Bishop Buddy Scrapbook 1946-1948

EDITORIALS

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Passages from the Bishop's Labor Day Address

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"The dignity of honest toil, the worker's vital importance in building up the security of this nation, are fittingly marked by this solemn Votive Mass in honor of the Holy Spirit, to in- voke for Labor Unions Divine Guidance, to call down upon the worker and his family the blessings of our Father in Heaven. We thus recognize our needs and our obligations. From the depths of chastened hearts we cry out 'O God, come to our assistance. 0 Lord, make haste to help us!" His Excellency then traced the history of Labor Unions through the last hundred years, showing how these ornaniza- tions had won important eco- nomic advantages. In answering the charges against Labor Leaders, the Most Reverend Ordinary con- cluded by declaring "the fact that some Labor Leaders are un- scrupulous, tyrannical and dis- loyal to our beloved country does not change the picture es- sentially, because there are mis- fits and scoundrels in govern- ment and business, in law and medicine, in every segment of the population. Organized labor has its share, but no more than its share. It is unreason- able to attack unionism because of certain abuses which have crept into it. Certainly the ill- digested legislation and other futile attempts have not met with the success that had been hoped for in creating a new spirit of trust and cooperation between management and the worker. In a word, you cannot legislate goodness into labor unions, but the recognition of Almighty God and His laws, the acceptance of the principles of Jesus Christ can bring about a willingness on the part of capi- tal and labor to respect mutual rights and fulfill mutual duties that are essential for any period of reconversion. The great ma- jority of labor leaders are ready to play ball with anyone who ob- serves the rules of the game. "Labor ·g·roups are to be warmly comr.nended for their fearless efforts to oust red sym- pathizers from their ranks. In- deed our fervent prayer today 'is for that strength and guid- ance in unionism that will ex- clude those insidious isms that would betray American prin- ciples:' The speaker declared that so- vietism is organized in this country to undermine not only the unions but every other in- stitution that we cherish. The Bishop warned the large audi- ence that filled the Cathedral, an audience composed mostly of labor leaders, their families and friends, that the forces of evil threatening our country were far more treacherous than the enemies encountered in World War I I~

"We are practically living un- der a dictatorship," the Bishop declared. "All this agitation, the violence in strikes, the black market, the multiplica- tion of futile laws, the restric- tions to progress, the interfer- ence with and holding up of production, the lowering of standards, the cold-blooded in- difference and inhuman treat- ment of small nations, the bold and relentless infiltration into schools, theatres, newspapers, the radio-these are not Ameri- can but Russian communism; either that or the leaders of our nation, especially those in the State Department, have lost the old spirit of American fair play and American courage. "Are we turning traitors to ourselves and the principles on which our nation was founded? Have we lost sight of the pre- amble to the Declaration of In- dependence, of the Bill of Rights? Our appeasement pol- icy from the very first was a weak, disgraceful and humiliat- ing subterfuge, that resulted in our · repudiation of the funda- mentals of liberty solemnly pledged in the Four Freedoms. "Obviously, all nation~ want peace-except Russia. Stalin and his stooges not !only ob- struct the making of peace but are 9ent on eliminating and, if necessary, on exterminating those peoples who refuse to be absorbed by communism. "Mr. Herbert Hoover, whom we all respect, gives an accurate survey of world conditions, to the effect that fewer nations now enjoy freedom than before ·world War 11. Instead of the peace fought for, a note of fear and frustration prevails. Under the diabolical veto power, which has stultified and hampered every conference of the U. N., it is possible for one nation to jeopardize the security of the world. Smal I wonder, then, that in this day fifteen million peo- ple are enslaved in concentra- tion or forced labor camps- w it h the U. N. standing by either helpless or unwilling to intervene." The Bishop exhorted the rank and file of labor unions to check and double check the character of their l'eaders. "Put them through the wringer.before you permit them to represent you. Make certain that they are gen- uine Americans, valiant, hon- est, forthright, and re Ii ab Ie. You cannot afford to be mis- represented by tools from sub- versive communism." His Excellency concluded by referring to the Savior's charge to St. Peter: "Satan has desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith fail not and that you being converted will convert your brethren" .(St. Luke